MJish, Marvel Comics & Paganism: Are the Old Ways being brought back via Comics?

[Gxg (G²)]

I must say I absolutely love that we can come here and get our geek on ala Big Bang Theory.

Not certain about the "Big Bang Theory" reference to geekdom and what it means. .....but ultimately, it's all good

 

[Gxg (G²)]

If you are interested in fiction with G-dly worldview check out this science fiction series: Everything that Stands: Late Earth Chronicle Trilogy by Isaac Israel. The publisher page states "The first three Chronicles in the Late-Earth Chronicles series: THE STORM, VALLEY OF THE SHADOW and MACHINES OF LOVING GRACE, now newly revised and together in one volume! Three retro science fiction, end-time page-turners with powerful Messianic themes." You can see them at Isaac Israel's Books and Publications Spotlight.

Just know they are not at all like Left Behind. There is a fourth in the series called Thy Kingdom Come that was very fun to read.

Your husband, to be clear, is the one who made this series? Was trying to make certain in light of what was mentioned elsewhere on the art series your DH did

 

[apache1]

BY THE POWER OF GREYSKULL....I HAVE THE POWER! Beware the evil forces of Skelator (HE HE HE HE).

 

[apache1]

You probably already know that Superman is Jewish!!

I didn't know Superman was Jewish. I thought he was from the planet Krypton. There's no need to fear. Underdog is here!

 

[apache1]

I never did understand why the Superfriends let dingdongs like Wendy, Marvin, and Wonderdog hang around with them. And those dorky Wonder Twins were even worse. Wonder Twin powers activate! Shape of a grubworm, form of a crab louse.

 

[apache1]

I can understand where you're coming from. I guess alot of it can come down to what others may define as "pushing" their faith..for one may not be seeking to convert others aggressively even though they do make room for platforms of spreading their views/making them known, with the comic series of Wonder Woman showing the Amazon tribes worshipping their gods and Wonder Woman giving thanks to them. For a good resource detailing the ways Wonder Woman's religion shows up:

The religion of Wonder Woman, Princess Diana​

As they said best:

Since this influential comic book super hero character was first created by polygamist feminist psychologist William Moulton Marston in 1941, Wonder Woman's origins and continuing storylines have been tied intricately to Greco-Roman mythology. The ancient Greek and Roman pantheon consisting of Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Hades, Athena, etc. have always been rendered as explicitly real in Wonder Woman's universe. This pantheon is also known as the Olympians, or the gods of Olympus, named after Mount Olympus, the mountain in Greece which was until recently their home.

The Amazon civilization into which Wonder Woman was born (or sculpted, technically) was created by these Greek gods, and Wonder Woman's powers derive from them. The Amazons of lived on the island of Themyscira, which was, until recently in DC Comics continuity, located in the Atlantic Ocean.

Wonder Woman could be said to be a "pagan" in the word's contemporary religious sense, although this does not appear to be a word she regularly applies to herself. Religious ritual and worship of the Greek gods is explicitly a part of the Amazon culture where Princess Diana was raised. While in her native Themyscira, Diana daily went to the Olympian temple and gave thanks before statues of the Olympian gods. She has also met these gods in person, and sometimes battled the less benevolent among them (such as Ares, the god of War, and Zeus's son, the demigod Heracles). Given Diana's firsthand experience with the Olympian gods, it would make little sense for her to not believe in these Olympian gods. One could conclude that Diana has little choice but to be a Greco-Roman classical religionist. Whatever the degree to which Diana has free will in the matter, she has enthusiastically and consciously embraced her role not only as a heroine, but also as the Themysciran ambassador to the world and as the Olympian gods' representative to mortal humanity.

​

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Princess Diana (Wonder Woman) was killed once by the demon Neron and the evil Dr. Doris Zeul. From: Beatty, page 31:
​

While the JLA [Justice Leage of America] and the rest of Diana's extended family were numb with grief, Hippolyta [Diana's mother] refused to lose faith in miracles. The woman who had once prayed toher gods to breathe life into a clay doll beseeched the godess Hera to restore Diana. And with a flash of golden fire, Wonder Woman was reborn!
​

For Hera, the simplest way to resurrect Diana was to turn her into a goddess. Diana became the Goddess of Truth and took her rightful place on Mount Olympus. For a time, Hippolyta assumed the mantle of Wonder Woman. Soon, however, Diana came to feel that her true place was on Earth. Without regret, she returned to the mortal plane so that the one true Wonder Woman might continue her quest for peace.

ABOVE: Hippolyta prays to Hera for the life of Diana (Wonder Woman).​

..........When the Crisis on Infinite Earths cross-over event shook up the DC Universe in 1985, it was established that Wonder Woman had never previously been introduced to the world at large before that time. Yet the legend of Wonder Woman was not entirely purged from DC history. Although Princess Diana's introduction to "Man's World" was pushed forward in time to become a contemporary event, it was retroactively established that Wonder Woman had indeed fought alongside the Justice Society of America during World War II - it was simply a different Wonder Woman. Current official DC history has established that Queen Hippolyta herself ventured away from Paradise Island as the superheroine named Wonder Woman. Princess Diana later took up the mantle of Wonder Woman, basing her costume on the one worn in previous decades by her mother.

More was said besides that in the link discussing Wonder Woman's religion...as there were other superheros who were also followers of the Greek gods in both Marvel and D.C--and for more one can go here to Famous Greco-Roman classical religionists in Comics


With the pumping fists/saying "go Hera", I have seen her frequently in the comic book world reference Hera in terms of prayer for others...or exclamation of certain things when she invokes the name of her gods by saying "Hera help him" or "Great Hera" or seeks to praise them actively:

The Balance 1/3
The Balance 2/3
The Balance 3/3 ​

Additionally, in a recent version of the comic book series called "Amazons Attack" (as seen here, here , here , and here), the Amazons went to war with mankind--in the name of their gods. When a missile was coming to one area/endangering others, WonderWoman unhooked her lasso and prayed to Athena to guide the missile somewhere safe, away from the island, but she has guided it towards the island. Wonder Woman was using all her might to stop it, but was unsuccessful. She reached behind the missile to break its cords but they regenerated like curling snakes.

She then cried out and questions why Athena was doing such a thing to her. Wonder Woman found that she had no other choice but to put herself between the island and the missile. An explosion happened, but Wonder Woman finds that she is still alive, and the island is still there. It was Athena in her physical form that stopped the missile. Wonder Woman apologised for being angry towards her and thanks Athena for stopping the missile. Athena asked why Wonder Woman was so angry towards the Gods. Wonder Woman replied that she was angry because she wondered why the Gods didn't stop the Amazons from attack Washington DC. She added that Athena could have easily stopped it all from happening with her hand, just like she stopped the missile with her hand.

But Athena replied, "... but you seem to have forgotten, or perhaps chosen to ignore... that I am also the Goddess of War... and the Goddess of Strategy..."
She wraps her hand around Wonder Woman, who is so small compared to Athena and says, "... and it is for me and me alone to say how and when and why I wave my 'mighty hand'!"

Seeing the religion of Wonder Woman and the ways her "gods" frequently interact with her/give the impression that they're to be worshipped is hard to get past, IMHO...but as long as they're not saying Christians don't have the freedom to do as they please.


Some of it, is similar to what occurred when Christianity became legal in the Roman Empire and other empires had similar dynamics, with it being the case that others were not trying to take away the right of others to practice/believe/declare their religious views as they wish....but more so about letting others do as they do so long as belief in God/Jesus was dominant while the believers had freedom to do as they wished. By default, anyone practicing a religion other than one devoted to Christ "pushes" their view, be it in passive ways or aggressive, since their choosing not to follow Christ places them in the category of saying that he's somehow wrong/not worth following....but there's a way to go about it thankfully when it comes to living alongside others worshipping other gods just as we live alongside people in our neighborhoods down the street---all of whom have differing beliefs, interesting perspectives and stories to tell of how they see the world. Hearing of it should not always be a threat to believers...

In other instances, people weren't concerned with having the dominant platform for Christ. One can see this when examining Christianity in the east. In most places, unlike in Europe, it established itself as a minority faith alongside more dominant religions. Many believers who were eventually exiled from the Eastern side of the Roman Empire (later Constantinople ) had differing experiences that parallel this...for when many of the councils were set up to determine what was "Orthodox" Christianity, those deemed to be herectics were kicked out. Others such as Nestorious were exiled to a monastery in the desert of his enemies. Consequently, the Syriac church has been called Nestorian to this day. The Christian historical scholar known as Philip Jenkins gave a more in-depth review on the issue of Christianity within the world of those who were within the "unorthodox" camps and showed how they spread the Gospel.....seeking instead to live alongside people of differing beliefs systems rather than try to make them second-class/not allowed to promote what they believe. Whereas in the West power was sought via the State/government, those who were Eastern Christians amongst the Monguls didn't try to do such. ..they were able to go about their mission of the Gospel, even reaching as far as Japan CENTURIES before anything of Catholicism/Protestanism happened there and preseting the Gospel while greatly contributing to the development of Japanese society (as discussed here, here, here, here, and here). I was very thankful for how Jenkins noted that whereas the conversion of Europe always had the inertia and legacy of the conversion of the Roman Empire behind it, Nestorian and Jacobite Christianity never quite managed to convert a powerful political elite and reap the evangelical rewards of doing so, though Nestorianism came close with the Mongols.

Those Christians in the East never sought to abolish the rights of others to pronounce expression to other gods...and for more on what Philip Jenkins noted in his book "The Lost History of Christianity", one can go either here to #4 #62 / #232 or here to Armarium Magnum: The Lost History of Christianity by Philip Jenkins. .

Wonder Woman has a nice lookin' tushy (I especially like the picture above where she is bent over). Not a bad lookin' rack, either. Truth, justice, and the American Way all the way, baby!! (Dick Vitale, you have nothin' on me).

 

[Gxg (G²)]

I never did understand why the Superfriends let dingdongs like Wendy, Marvin, and Wonderdog hang around with them. And those dorky Wonder Twins were even worse. Wonder Twin powers activate! Shape of a grubworm, form of a crab louse.

Wonder Twins Powers Activate!
The Wonder Twins Phenomenon​

Although I hated the Wonder Twins growing up whenever I saw the Superfriends, it was very much a blessing to see the ways that they actually sought to update so that they'd look more intense:

Additionally, they did an updated version of them in the "Justice League" episode entitled ULTIMATEM...their names changed to Downpour and Shifter:​

Justice League Unlimited- Ultimatum 1/2​

Justice League Unlimited- Ultimatum 2/2​

Wonder Woman has a nice lookin' tushy (I especially like the picture above where she is bent over). Not a bad lookin' rack, either. Truth, justice, and the American Way all the way, baby!! (Dick Vitale, you have nothin' on me).

Not certain of what your intention was or if you were trying to joke...but it came off a good bit obscene in what you noted as well as coarse. Not a good thing, IMHO, nor something to really go for (Ephesians 5:3-5 )...and I really don't think certain terms are necessary to use at any point honestly. Nonetheless, as I've said earlier, I do think there is a good degree of sexualization in the world of comics that is often annoying...one of the other ways that worldviews are spread into others at a sub-conscious level and in subtle ways. The ways that they try to portay comic heros as how they'd look in real life......it often amazes me. The same goes for many other things when it comes to the world of animation, be it Disney Princesses like Jasmine from "Aladdin" and Ariel from "The Little Mermaid" (both in revealing clothes) or women in cartoon shows. More was discussed on the matter elsewhere when it came to the subject of modesty, as seen in #55 & #79. As said before:​

I think, for some women, the make up on their face is akin to deception and lies, whether the motive is to seduce or not. G_d made us as we are and attempts to make how women and young girls look so different to reality is nothing short of a lie. When it is all washed off the person looks as G_d intended, and often very different from how they looked in the street 20 minutes ago.

I can understand why some would want particular blemishes covered, but for the vast majority it is mere vanity, at best, or downright deception and lies at worst.

Alongside this is the use of items to emphasise body parts - infills for a lady's bra, for example. Is all this necessary for females of all ages, including very young girls? I say not.

I think you'd enjoy the ministry of Boundless.org, as they've done many stellar articles on the subject of how little girls are actually being sexually exploited ...and trained to be attractive at a far earlier age than warranted....

For some good articles on the issue:

• For Babies Only | Boundless Line
• Modest Expectations | Boundless Line
• The Sexualization of Our Daughters | Boundless Line
• You Can Be a Mom AND Look Like a Porn Star! | Boundless Line
• The "Creepiness" of Counter-Cultural Christianity | Boundless Line

Outside of that, another one to consider is on the subject of The Sexualization of Children and Adolescents Epidemic. I don't like it when my little sister watches shows such as "Hannah Montana" or sees the dolls in stores that have sexy clothing on. Parents won't let her buy them​

I'm glad that being modest doesn't go counter to looking good/attractive. Web sites like Downeast Basics and Christa-Taylor, which are comprised entirely of beautiful (and modest) women's fashions, make it easy to be stylish and modest​

.The amount of women who are overlooked because they don't have an "hour-glass" body or look like a Barbie model when they dress is amazing....even if they're the most beautiful people ever.


IHow many women struggle with anorexia and being bullemic (throwing up food constantly) just so that they can look thin......and this adds an entirely differing spin on the issue of attraction since many of the thin women others are trying to look like may be against things such as wearning bathing suits in public. They may be for women covering up, yet there's still a physical dynamic emphasized when it comes to being thin. To me, that's odd.....as in differing places, the size of someone wasn't what would matter. By no means am I saying that being into things like gluttony and obesse is a good thing (as discussed elsewhere here).....but being big by nature isn't something to be ashamed of. I'm reminded of a movie I once came across that focused on the main character being very big---and though others thought she wasn't attractive, she ended up finding love with a Nigerian man.......for its the case that Nigerian culture has a great love for "thick madams" and they place the overweight on a pedestal—while model-sized women are mocked as being unhealthy and malnourished.
..

I wish many women would realize what true beauty is rather than feeling like they have to dress for men to gaze on them as if they're pieces of meat...or feeling like they have to get plastic surgery just to stay at a certain level continually. How many women end up damaging themselves because they have the wrong idea about beauty. It reminds me about how focus is placed in the wrong spots since the Proverbs 31 woman was noted for many things. Her strength and dignity came not from her amazing achievements (or size)...but from her reverence to God. In our society where physical appearance counts for so much, it may surprise us to realize that her appearance is never mentioned. Her attractiveness came entirely from her character. There was an excellent podcast from the ministry of "BoundlessWebzine" on the issue not too long ago---as seen here in the article entitled 'I'll Never Get Married Because I'm Fat': Episode 109 ......and I'm very grateful for all of the podcasts they do which are very insightful.

. And for some good articles I think would bless you:

• Modesty Revisited
• Too Overweight to Love?
• Destructive Myths: Love Onscreen
• Cosmetic Surgery: Right or Wrong?
• GUEST POST: Why there are no fat Disney princesses | Moniqueblog

FG
​

 

[Gxg (G²)]

I didn't know Superman was Jewish. I thought he was from the planet Krypton.

Most people get surprised seeing the ways that the Jewish orgins behind the names are left out..

There's no need to fear. Underdog is here!

Underdog was never really a favorite.

 

[MessianicMommy]

UNI professor explores new spin on some of our most iconic comic book characters

Brod argues that the Jewish immigrant experience not only shaped the creation of these icons but also the very nature of how the nation views the American Dream.
“You’ve got men who are facing specific anti-Semitic stereotypes: weak, cowardly, overly-intellectual, wear glasses. You’re basically describing Clark Kent,” Brod said. “But the moral of the story is: Little do they know beneath the street clothes is Superman. You had immigrants, poor, working-class guys excluded from the mainstream who took a critical distance and fed America back a super, larger-than-life idealized image of itself: the superheroes.”

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/ar...aped-our-superheroes?Frontpage&nclick_check=1

 

[Gxg (G²)]

UNI professor explores new spin on some of our most iconic comic book characters

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/ar...aped-our-superheroes?Frontpage&nclick_check=1

Awesome review, sis, and many thanks for sharing that. It goes in line with what was mentioned earlier in #34 when it came to noting the many comic heros based on Jewish ideology

As the article noted best:

Superman, Batman, Captain America, Spider-Man, the Hulk, the Fantastic Four, the Avengers and the original X-Men all have at least two things in common: They’re all superheroes and they were all created wholly or in part by Jewish men.

Harry Brod, a University of Northern Iowa professor of religion and philosophy, explores the Jewish underpinnings of some of popular culture’s most enduring and towering figures in his upcoming book, “Superman Is Jewish?,” due out in November.

The greatest creators in comic book history — Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster (Superman), Bob Kane and Bill Finger (Batman), Wil Eisner (the Spirit, “A Contract With God Trilogy&#8221, Joe Kubert (Sgt. Rock), Jack Kirby and Joe Simon (Captain America) and Stan Lee and Kirby (the Hulk, Fantastic Four, Avengers, X-Men and many more) — were Jewish men.

Brod argues that the Jewish immigrant experience not only shaped the creation of these icons but also the very nature of how the nation views the American Dream.

“You’ve got men who are facing specific anti-Semitic stereotypes: weak, cowardly, overly-intellectual, wear glasses. You’re basically describing Clark Kent,” Brod said. “But the moral of the story is: Little do they know beneath the street clothes is Superman. You had immigrants, poor, working-class guys excluded from the mainstream who took a critical distance and fed America back a super, larger-than-life idealized image of itself: the superheroes.”
​

Historically, when seeing the many ways that Jewish people faced discrimination and stereotypes, it's truly amazing considering how they used the world of comics to give differing presentations of how things could be.

 

[MessianicMommy]

According to ancient Jewish mysticism, there are 36 people, called lamed-vavniks, who are divinely chosen to save the world. This Kabbalistic legend served as the inspiration for “The Thirty Six,” a comic by writer Kristopher White. The book’s hero Noam is a member of the 36, armed with Moses’ staff and charged with protecting the other 35 — some of whom don’t even know they’re lamed-vavniks. White funded the first volume of the story through Kickstarter, and the comic was recently a finalist in the Burbank International Film Festival‘s comic book and graphic novel category. Hero Complex caught up with White to talk about “The Thirty Six.”
Jewish legend sets stage for superheroes in ‘The Thirty Six’ | Hero Complex – movies, comics, fanboy fare – latimes.com

Tzadikim Nistarim - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[visionary]

Why not? The film industry has run through almost all Greek, Roman and Persian myths and stories. Isn't it time to do some Jewish mysticism? I think it is about time. Maybe it will be a back door to a movie on Revelation.

 

[Gxg (G²)]

According to ancient Jewish mysticism, there are 36 people, called lamed-vavniks, who are divinely chosen to save the world. This Kabbalistic legend served as the inspiration for “The Thirty Six,” a comic by writer Kristopher White. The book’s hero Noam is a member of the 36, armed with Moses’ staff and charged with protecting the other 35 — some of whom don’t even know they’re lamed-vavniks. White funded the first volume of the story through Kickstarter, and the comic was recently a finalist in the Burbank International Film Festival‘s comic book and graphic novel category. Hero Complex caught up with White to talk about “The Thirty Six.”
Jewish legend sets stage for superheroes in ‘The Thirty Six’ | Hero Complex – movies, comics, fanboy fare – latimes.com

Tzadikim Nistarim - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Haven't heard of that specific comic, although addressing things from the perspective of Jewish mysticism is interesting. Not really certain if I'd be comfortable with reading it, to be truthful, in light of all the junk done in the name of Kabbalah.